


A Plan and a Promise

by azablue



Series: Sokka's Got You Covered [1]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aang loves his kids, Being the Avatar is dangerous, Character Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Post-Episode: s03e18-21 Sozin's Comet, Pre-Avatar: Legend of Korra, Sokka is a big brother
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:54:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26208253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/azablue/pseuds/azablue
Summary: "We know how dangerous the world can be Sokka… I’m just asking you to be there."“Aang, you’re the Avatar, nothing’s gonna happen to you.” Sokka said firmly, it was his only excuse, albeit not the greatest one, but he didn’t care. His best friend, his pseudo little brother, was in front of him calmly discussing his untimely demise, his mind wasn’t as clear as he wanted it to be.“That’s exactly it Sokka! I’m the Avatar!” Aang said, throwing his hands into the air, “We’ve both seen first hand what kind of danger that can bring, there’s always going to be people who want to hurt me, hurt the people I love, I’m just asking you to-”OR Aang knows how dangerous being the Avatar can be, he asks Sokka to be there for his kids if he can't
Relationships: Aang & Sokka (Avatar), Aang/Katara (Avatar), Katara & Sokka (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar)
Series: Sokka's Got You Covered [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1903354
Comments: 18
Kudos: 80





	1. The Plan

As the seasons changed from winter to spring, Sokka and Suki made their way to Ba Sing Se to visit Aang, Katara, and baby Bumi. Given the Avatar’s sporadic schedule, they were fairly hard to visit unless it is a planned vacation. Sokka and Suki had decided that if the small family was staying anywhere for three months or more, it was worth it to pop in. The house that was given to Aang and Katara in the upper ring (despite Aang’s insistence that _any_ place to stay would be more than enough) was very similar to the place they had all stayed in their very first trip to Ba Sing Se. Sokka could have sworn it was the exact same one until he remembered that Toph had rendered their previous house almost unrecognizable in the name of breaking rules. Bumi seemed to be taking after Toph with his own “home remodeling projects,” drawing on the walls of almost every room in the house with the ink set Sokka had brought him, much to Katara’s dismay. In hindsight, purchasing ink for a two year-old was not the most thought out plan, but at the moment Sokka had bigger fly fish to fry: Aang. He seemed distracted all night, and what was even more concerning was that he kept eyeing Sokka, who knew his brother-in-law well enough to know that there was something they needed to talk about. 

“Hey Sokka can I talk to you for a moment?”

 _There it is,_ thought Sokka, setting Bumi in his wife’s lap and walking into the hallway that lead to the kitchen.

“So… what’s on your mind?” Sokka said, pulling himself a seat at the counter, “if this is about renaming Yu Dao ‘Boomerang City,’ I was only partially kidding-”

“It’s not about that,” Aang said quickly, cutting him off.

 _Okay,_ Sokka noted, _so it’s gonna be one of these kinds of conversations._ Aang was the kind of guy that wore his heart on his sleeve, and this was no exception. Instead of taking the seat next to Sokka at the island, he was standing, fiddling with his sleeve like he did when he was a kid, seeming nervous. But there was something else, something more concerning, the distant look in Aang’s eyes. When he got like this Sokka was never quite sure if that look was an Avatar thing or a nomad thing or a ‘I had to save the world when I was twelve thing,” or, just Aang. Right now it felt like a combination of all four.

“Katara and I,” Aang began again, “are thinking of settling down, moving to Yu Dao. There’s an island just off the coast, Toph and I have already talked about building a temple there.” To say Sokka was surprised would be an understatement. He was glad that Aang and his sister were finally settling down, they’d been traveling since the end of the war -almost twelve years ago- and he could see it was starting to wear them down, especially in recent years. But there was something more Aang wasn’t saying, he hadn’t brought him back here just to talk about moving.

“That’s great,” said Sokka, “it’s about time you two settled down, and I bet Bumi will love it.” Aang smiled at his enthusiasm, it was the first time he’d seen him grin since they left the living room. “But can I ask… why now?”

“Um well,” Aang smiled even wider than before, “Katara’s… pregnant.”

Sokka’s eyes widened, “Aang that’s great news!” He rose and gave his brother-in-law a hug.

“Thanks Sokka,” Aang said, “it’s still pretty early and we’re not telling many people yet, just family, we want to keep it private as long as possible, considering how things were with Bumi” Aang’s smile faded, his face falling back into seriousness. Sokka winced. He remembered how the public reacted to their announcement, from journalists to world leaders it seemed like everyone had an opinion on the “last air bender” having children with a _water bender_ from the Southern Water Tribe. He saw the pressure of the world weigh down on his baby sister, being thrust the responsibility of having an air bender, something she had no control in. It made his blood boil. He could understood why the couple wanted to minimize the public’s involvement this time around, and hoped it would work. Still, Sokka was almost certain this wasn’t why Aang brought him back here.

 _There’s something more,_ he mused. Aang was still playing with his sleeve, his brow furrowed, not meeting his eyes. Sokka could read what _that_ meant. While his friend had been a master of all four elements for a few years now, in times of intense inner turmoil he still seemed to drift back to his nomadic ways and dance around conflict. This was a man who loved to make people happy, not burden them with his worries. Whatever was bothering him wasn’t an Avatar thing, no, this was an _Aang_ thing.

“… can I ask you something?” Aang said finally, albeit still hesitant.

“Sure, go for it,” Sokka responded.

“… if anything ever happens to me,” Aang paused, closing his eyes and centering himself. When he opened them again and he met Sokka’s eyes with an intensity that was _definitely_ an Avatar thing, the nervous air around him dissipated. “I’m asking you, I _need_ you, to be there for Bumi, for Katara, for the baby. I know that-”

“Woah woah wait, hold on,” Sokka had to stop him, give himself a second to think because this _wasn’t_ happening. “Aang, what’s going on? Are you sick? Did something happen?” Aang sighed, his serious stance faltering for a moment before going back into what the gaang called his ‘Avatar voice,’ which was normally only used with stangers.

“No, nothing’s happening, but I want you to help me prepare in case something does. I just need you to promise me you’ll be there. I have no doubt that Katara would be able to do it herself, she’s a perfect mother, she’s so strong, but-”

“Aang, you’re the Avatar, nothing’s gonna happen to you.” Sokka said firmly, it was his only excuse, albeit not the greatest one, but he didn’t care. His best friend, his pseudo little brother, was in front of him calmly discussing his untimely demise, his mind wasn’t as clear as he wanted it to be.

“That’s exactly it Sokka! I’m the _Avatar!”_ Aang said, throwing his hands into the air, “We’ve both seen first hand what kind of danger that can bring, there’s always going to be people who want to hurt me, hurt the people I love, I’m just asking you to-”

“I didn’t end an entire war to be having this conversation right now,” Sokka said, mirroring his friends intensity. Aang was growing frustrated.

“We’ve had this conversation before, why is this any different!”

Sokka glared at Aang, _now_ he was annoyed. The plan Aang was referring to was one they, along with Zuko, Kuei, Hakoda, and Arnook put in place after the war. It was a contingency plan created in case any major leader (or the Avatar) should be killed while the world was still healing. It involved different support plans and successors for each nation, with every leader agreeing to every course of action so as not to start up another war, either within a given nation or between them. The plan had been Sokka’s idea, and he did _not_ like it being used against him.

“ _That_ plan,” Sokka said sharpy, “ was one we made together was so that the world would never fall back into chaos!”

“I came to you because I thought you would be practical about this,” Aang huffed.

“I’m not helping you plan for your own death.”

“You think I want to be asking you this?” Aang raised his voice, whatever level of Avatar maturity he was holding onto was gone, _this_ was all Aang anger.

(Which, while less physically harmful and far more rare, was more frightening than _Avatar_ anger to anyone on the other end).

“You think I want to plan for a reality where I don’t get to see Bumi grow up? See my child be born? Where I leave Katara? I hate even thinking about it!”Aang sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. The frustration left his face as he exhaled, leaving Sokka staring into tired, grey ‘I-had-to-save-the-world-when-I-was-twelve’ eyes.

“Look Sokka I’m not just asking you because you’re practical, I’m asking because you’re one of my best friends, you’re Katara’s brother and… you know what it’s like to loose a parent.”

 _Oh._ Sokka thought, _that_. He came to Sokka not just because he trusted him, loved him, saw him was a brother, but because he would know what to do. He’s done this before. He knows how to help a kid who doesn’t remember their parent. He knows how it never stops hurting. And later, when he’s thinking more about it, Sokka realizes that he even knows how to help _Katara_ after she loses Aang. However, he quickly pushes those memories back down because Aang may have been twelve when he died (and then came back), but Sokka was only fifteen and _he_ was concious for _all_ of it.

And now here he is, his very alive, very tired friend asking him to catch the people he loves most in the world if he can’t, all because of a destiny he’s forced to fulfill. _And I yelled at him_ , Sokka thought, cursing himself.

“Aang… I’m, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to blow up at you,” Sokka said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“I know you didn’t,” Aang said, despite his reassurance, his face fell into a small frown, “it’s just… we know how dangerous the world is Sokka… I’m just asking you to be there.”

“ I know. After all the fighting we’ve done, I wish the world was different, but it’s not. And it doesn’t help anyone not to prepare for the worst.” As much as he hated to admit it, his little brother was right. He knew no matter what loss rocks a family. Everything changes. But maybe if they could be even a little bit prepared, it wouldn’t destroy Aang’s family, Katara’s family, like it did his all those years ago. One of Sokka’s biggest regrets in life is how much he let fall on his little sister after their mom died, it wasn’t fair to her. _Maybe_ , he thought, albeit sad, this was his chance not to make that mistake again.

“Thanks Sokka, I-” Aang got cut off as Sokka pulled him into a tight hug which he gratefully accepted.

“I would be there even if you didn’t ask you know that right,” Sokka said, muffled by Aang’s shirt.

“Of course, I just… I…”

“You needed to ask, I get it.” They stood in their embrace for a few moments before Aang began to pull away.

“Oh, um Sokka? There’s one more thing,”Aang said, looking almost more nervous than when they had entered the kitchen.

“What is it?” Sokka said, trying to mask the worry in his voice.

“Could you… not tell Katara about this?” Sokka thought for a moment. He could picture how that conversation would go and he did _not_ want to be apart of it. If he was bad he couldn’t _imagine_ his sister’s reaction to the love of her life preparing for his death.

“Don’t worry buddy, I won’t.” Sokka said, putting both of his hands on his friend’s shoulders,“but just because I’m doing this doesn’t mean you’re going anywhere any time soon, I have way too many jokes I haven’t gotten to use yet.” Aang laughed at this, the serious atmosphere that once filled the kitchen had left.


	2. The Promise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for Sokka to enact the plan.

. It would be forty-two years before Sokka would have to put the plan in motion. It was far sooner than anyone thought it would be, but Aang’s passing was still much more peaceful than the way Aang had in mind when he tasked Sokka to create the plan, all those years ago. At first the plan only consisted of one basic notion: Sokka would be there for Katara and the children. He (and Suki, when she was not on Kyoshi Island) would live with them for as long as they needed and at any given moment she would always be an arms reach from her family and friends. They would support her. While the circumstances were different when the time came, with all of Aang and Katara’s children grown up, Sokka stilll stuck true to his word. He had been there for his sister as he had promised, which wasn’t a difficult task since they both had moved back to the South Pole, and he was there for each of his children in all the ways they would let him. But there was a second part of the plan, one Aang came up with all on his own that he tasked Sokka in executing. Sokka was five years into phase one before he decided to enact phase two. Something had told him to wait.

. On the week of the fifth anniversary of Aang’s death, all of his children had come South to stay with their mother and celebrate his life. Toph, Zuko, and Suki would be arriving in the next few days to be with them, but tonight it was just Katara, Bumi, Kya, and Tenzin. Sokka knew it would be the perfect time. As he approached the house he could hear the regular sounds of chatter coming from the living room of his sister’s home. Whenever Bumi, Kya, and Tenzin got together, albeit less than he would like, they always fell back into their old, loud ways. As he entered he was met with a chorus of “Uncle Sokka!” “It’s good to see you” “How are you?” from his sister’s kids, and a warm smile from Katara. They all seemed fairly distracted by his arrival to notice the boxes he had brought with him. Sokka waited until after dinner, when everyone had settled in the living room and had begun to tell stories about Aang, as they often did in the days leading up to the anniversary of his passing, to draw attention to the boxes. Katara had just finished telling the story of their Fire Nation cave dance party from the war, a story everyone in the room had heard hundreds of times but never seemed to tire of, when Sokka decided it was time. He cleared his throat and looked around the room, collecting his thoughts.

“I have something to tell you all that I can promise is something you didn’t know about your father,” Sokka began, catching the undivided attention of everyone in the room. “Right before Kya was born Aang and I created a plan,” he looked around to his niece and nephews, a small part of him was nervous for their reaction, “a plan for in case one day something would happen to him.” Sokka glanced at very confused Katara before continuing, “at first it was a small plan, how to support your mother and you all, but over the years it became more than that.”

Everyone in the room had grown quiet, Aang was not the type to keep secrets, especially from his family, and his children were having a hard time wrapping their heads around what their uncle was describing. Sokka picked up the boxes he had left by the door and brought them over to his family, setting one down in front of Bumi, Kya, and Tenzin. He took a breath, “these are for each of you, some addressed to you personally and others for all three. It’s time you have them, spirits know I’ve kept them for you long enough.” With that Sokka motioned for them to open the boxes, revealing hundreds of scrolls, letters, each addressed to his mystified niece and nephews from their dad.

Not long after approaching Sokka with the plan, Aang realized that he would want his children to know as much about his culture as possible, considering in this scenario he wouldn’t be there to teach them. They could learn about daily rituals, festivals, and even air bending movements (if any of them were air benders) from the ever growing team of Air Actolytes, but Aang wanted them to know more. He wanted them to taste fruit pies, to know air bender songs that weren’t sacred hyms. He wanted them to know his culture, their culture, as something happy, something alive. So Aang started writing them letters. As time went on, he wrote to them about more than just his culture. He wrote letters for each of his children, personal advice and anecdotes for different points in their life he may miss, he wrote letters to all three of them, telling them stories of his youth, of things during the war that he hadn’t told anyone before. He wrote each of them something for their possible engagements, for their weddings, for their accomplishments. He wrote to Bumi the night he confessed he wanted to join the armed forces the next year, to Kya as a preemptive congratulations for mastering water bending, and Tenzin for the day he got his tattoos. Aang mailed every letter he wrote to Sokka, who kept them safe in special wooden boxes in his house. Aang wrote other letters too, one for each member of the “gaang” and their children which he would update every few years, but the letters to his own kids were the only ones that were continuous. Thankfully there was never a time where most of these letters would be needed, Aang lived to see his children grow up into adults and accomplish many things before his passing, but Sokka had made a promise, and it was one he intended to keep.

For a moment they all sat silently, staring at the scrolls in their respective boxes, a secret that spanned their entire lives. Kya was the first to speak after holding up the oldest scroll in her box.

“This- this was written before I was even born, how did- I,” Kya muttered looking through the others. Sokka smiled, remembering when he received that letter, it had been the first one Aang ever wrote, coming with instructions not to open or mention it to anyone.

“Your father wanted to be a part of your lives, and he was so worried he wouldn’t have a chance to he wrote them periodically, that was the first one”  
  
“Is there one for the new Avatar?” Tenzin asked, rifling through his box.  
  
“No…” Sokka responded, the thought had crossed his mind before as well, but now he thinks he finally understood why there wasn’t, “this wasn’t an Avatar thing, just Aang."

“He’s he’s been writing these our entire lives,” Bumi pipped up, a tear threatening to escape his eye as he lifted a scroll labeled _Bumi’s fifth birthday._

“I know that not all of them can be used now, but some will and… well I thought you deserved to have them all.” They spent the rest of the night reading through the letters written throughout their childhoods, resurfacing old memories and hearing stories their father hadn’t told. Tenzin made sure to place the scroll labeled _engagement_ aside as he felt he would need his father’s advice, advice he never thought he would get again, in the near future.

It was far past midnight when the siblings decided to retire to bed, leaving just Sokka and Katara in the living room full of scrolls. As he wished his nieces and nephews goodnight, Sokka knew deep in his bones that he had made the right choice. Something in him had told him to wait on the letters. At first, he reasoned that the children needed to process their father’s passing and that the hundreds of letters he wrote them throughout their lives would be too much to process. But a small part of him felt like as long as the letters were still around, so was a part of Aang. He hadn’t read any of the letters except for his own (everyone got a note from Aang to be read after his passing), but he kept the ones he wrote to his children rolled up with the seal still entact, despite some of them nearing fifty years old. Sokka liked living with the idea that Aang still had more to say, that a part of him was still here.

“I always knew he was up to something with you, but I could never put my finger on it.” Sokka had been so lost in thought he almost jumped at the sound of his sister’s voice. He looked over to Katara, the years since had Aang passed had taken a toll on her, but tonight she seemed lighter than she had been in a long time.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” Sokka stated, not knowing entirely how to respond.

Katara simply shook her head, smiling as she continued, “I’m not mad, in fact I’m glad he didn’t tell any of us that’s what he was doing. It would’ve been too much for me to handle, even thinking he was preparing not to come home one day.”  
  
“I’m glad they have another piece of him.”  
  
“Me too.”

“He wrote some for you too,” Sokka said, finally enacting the the last part of the plan, “I didn’t bring them over tonight but they’re at my house. There’s not nearly as many as he wrote for the kids but if you want me to bring them-

“I want them,” Katara said, cutting him off, “just… not right now. I’d like to wait a little bit longer.” She looked down, seemingly unsure of her own decsion. Sokka’s face turned to a sad smile as he pulled his sister into a hug.“Take all the time you need.” They sat in a comfortable hug for a while before either of them spoke again. Katara, muffled by her brother’s sleeve broke the silence.

“Thank you. For the plan and keeping the letters, the secret, I know that must have been hard. Thank you.” Sokka pulled his sister tighter into their embrace, hoping she wouldn’t see the tears starting to fall from his eyes.

“Of course.”

“Forty-two years?” Katara asked, pulling away from the embrace and wiping the tear off of Sokka’s cheek.

“Forty-two years,” Sokka replied.

“That’s a long time,” Katara said simply. In other circumstances, Sokka would have laughed, but in the present moment all he could think was that it was _not long enough_.

“I miss him.”

“Me too.”

A few hours later, with the moon still high in the sky, Sokka left his sister’s home to get some much needed sleep. The next morning they would be welcoming more family which meant there would be many late nights ahead, and his body wasn’t as young as it used to be. Before going into his home Sokka looked up at the night sky and was greeted by the pale softness of the full moon. When he was younger his feelings about the moon were complex, complicated, but with age the moon became nothing but a comfort. Sokka smiled.

“Give him my love Yue,” he whispered, “tell him it was worth it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahh here it is! I've been thinking about this for a while, I hope you enjoyed! This is my second piece of fanfic ever :)
> 
> I'm planning on posting the rest of the series throughout the month :) 
> 
> thank you for reading! 
> 
> \- Aza

**Author's Note:**

> hey so this is part one in a series of fics I've been thinking about for a while, I really like the idea of Sokka being someone the group leans on in later years and I also want to give my boy some "Big Feelings Time" so here it is! 
> 
> I hope you liked it even though it's not exactly happy, let me know what you thought! :) 
> 
> \- Azalea


End file.
